Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Lucky Number ’13

My New Year’s resolutions are eight days late. This might not be a great sign, if I had included something about breaking my procrastination habit. But fortunately, I plan on continuing to procrastinate. At least, in all things unrelated to my writing (and work, because income is nice).
So with no further delay, here’s what I want to focus on in 2013.
1. Keep a monthly word-count calendar
Not really a necessary resolution because something about seeing the numbers add up inspires me to keep writing. Plus, this is an easy one because it involves using my new-and-improved word-count calendar/spreadsheet. I changed it slightly this year so I will be getting more accurate counts for each month and I’ve already clocked in with more than 3,000 words so far. And it’s only Jan. 8! So far, so good!
2. Finish and edit TMIAL
This is the project formerly known as the novella. My intermediate deadline for this resolution is Feb. 14 — because Valentine’s Day seems like a good a day as any to finish writing a romantic story.
3. Finish draft of PDT
I have a finished outline and about 20,000 words of the first draft and I’m really excited to get back to this world. It’s a romantic suspense/crime novel set on the California coast, an area I know very well. Writing this is my reward for finishing TMIAL. 4. Finish You, Again
It’s three-quarters finished and I know who did it. There’s no excuse. But I’m still putting PDT ahead of this because, well, surfers.
5. Submit something
A leftover from my 2012 resolution. It can be anything — a writing contest, a query to an agent, submission to a publisher. Just put something out there to show what I can do.
6. Professional development
It may be time to network. Meet more authors. Join RWA or attend a conference. This isn’t so much a resolution as a reminder to take writing more seriously.
7. Write something in first-person POV
After reviewing my reading lists for the last two years, I realized that most of my favorite reads were in first-person point of view. But all of my writing has been in third-person. This year, I’m going to try writing something in first-person POV and see how it goes.
8. Outlines for next WIPs
I’ve got some preliminary outlining done on two sequels to TMIAL. I wasn’t sure until this year if I was an outliner or a pantser or something in between. It turns out, I’m an outliner. I think. We’ll see how it goes when I start writing PDT from the outline. But, in the meantime, I’m resolving to write the outlines for Fiona’s story and then Jude’s story.
So those are my plans for 2013. It’s a lot, but it doesn’t feel like a chore. And that’s got to be a good sign.